Discussion: A review on the behaviour of helical piles as a potential offshore foundation system

Helical piles have emerged as an attractive foundation system for offshore applications with renewed interest from the offshore community. Significant research gap currently exists in transferring this technology offshore and this paper discusses how existing and emerging knowledge can be successfully used to bridge some of the gaps. We focus on the Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian (CEL) large deformation finite element (LDFE) modelling technique that is commercially available and can be used to model the three-dimensional installation process with consideration of strain rate and softening effects in soft offshore clays. A helical pile of L=7.5m long is modelled with one or two large-diameter helices (D=2m) attached to a central shaft of d=0.5m in diameter. The net effect of strain rate and softening is to increase the installation torque. The measured torque is within the range of 200–400 kN.m for the offshore clay and the pile geometry studied. Additional helices increase the uplift force but to a lesser degree than that of the measured torque. Remoulding induced strength reduction is found to be within the range of 25–33% of the intact clay strength. Issues of extracting and reusing offshore helical pile foundations are discussed.